Gordon's 'Turkey Twizzler' Budget

WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!

No 1333 Week commencing 18 March 2005 Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain 50p TROOPS OUT! BLAIR OUT! ister who gave himself up by our Arab Affairs correspondent cently questioned by a in April 2003 following the UN panel investigating THE IRAQI RESISTANCE is aggressively American capture of corruption in the oil-for- Baghdad has been in US food programme that op- pursuing American forces throughout Iraq in custody ever since. waves of ambushes, bombings and street erated during the blockade “To the world public after the first Gulf war. battles right across the country. Fierce fight- opinion: We hope you will The Italian withdrawal ing is raging between partisans and Ameri- help us…we need fair from the US “coalition of can Marines and puppet forces along the treatment, a fair investiga- the willing” leaves Tony banks of the Tigris river, west of Balad. US tion and finally, a fair trial. Blair even more isolated in forces are penned downed in their bases out- Please help us,” he wrote Europe and the world. side most of the country’s major towns. adding that he has not Berlusconi shifted because been allowed to see his he knew his right-wing Back in Baghdad guer- But partisan units moved family, contacts, or re- coalition would suffer at rillas shot dead two guards rapidly to stop the imperi- ceive letters or parcels sent the next elections if Italian at the US prison holding alists plundering their re- to him. His plea, written in troops were still in Iraq. Saddam Hussein in the sources by hitting pipe- English, was given to his Blair, whose personal west of the city and es- lines, pumping stations and lawyer when he was re- • The resistance thrives. standing in the opinion polls caped unscathed. And the even the wells themselves. is rock-bottom, thinks he resistance greeted first can get away with it. The meeting of the new pup- blasted millions demonstrating in pet parliament with a bar- London and across the rage of mortar fire that Iraq has the world’s Gordon’s ‘turkey country this weekend shook the building inside second-largest oil reserves must prove him wrong. the heavily-fortified US but production is less than “Green Zone” military half of its pre-war level. compound. The resistance chalked up twizzler’ budget It’s all been too much its 219th attack against the FUND for the Italian premier oil infrastructure when a by Daphne Liddle efit but those whose income week. He says this is a Silvio Berlusconi, who has pipeline in Fatha in north- is just a little higher than the better way to get money Our fund this week confirmed that Italy will be ern Iraq was blasted on GORDON Brown’s state pension will continue to those who need it than has brought us £970.94, withdrawing its troops Tuesday. tenth budget, as ex- to lose out. tax cuts. But again this bringing our total so far from Iraq as soon as pos- Though the bogus elec- pected, is geared to- Even more important, works in a means tested this month to £1,505.74 sible. Berlusconi had been tions were held six weeks wards the coming gen- this budget does nothing to way. – just over half way to our ago, the quisling politicians eral election. And like address the huge gaps in He is going to sim- monthly target of £3,000. one of the few European the appalling school pension funds for workers in plify many of the rules and We thank our Lon- Union leaders left backing are still nowhere near dinners recently ex- both the public and private regulations covering don Scot for £10, an East Bush and Blair’s war. But agreement on the forma- posed by TV chef sectors. Thousands are fac- small businesses and Anglia comrade for £13, the American “friendly tion of a puppet govern- Jamie Oliver, it is su- ing an old age without the merge five existing bod- a Midlands NUM sup- ment. Their “parliament” substantial occupational porter for £15, a Greater fire” killing of a senior Ital- perficially enticing but ies into the Health and Manchester comrade for ian secret serviceman as he met for barely 90 minutes deeply unhealthy un- pensions they have paid into Safety Executive. This £20 and a Vauxhall com- brought an Italian journal- before closing without derneath. for decades but which have will help workers only if rade for £20. ist hostage to safety ear- even setting a date for its There are some ap- disappeared into a black the HSE has enough re- We also raised lier in the month enraged recall. The rigged elections parent bribes in it for pen- hole. sources to inspect thor- £562.94 at our social last were designed to elevate sioners, for first-time Brown has raised the oughly and enough pow- Saturday to commemo- Italian public opinion that home buyers and for income tax threshold ers to enforce health and rate the anniversary of had never supported the sectarian and separatist families with growing chil- slightly but this will ulti- safety laws. Karl Marx’s death. sending of their troops to collaborators willing to dren. But most are mately benefit the rich rather Brown has allocated That leaves us with Iraq in the first place. take part in the American heavily larded with than the poor. £150 million to set up a £1,494.26 to raise in just charade and by its very means testing, meaning national community ser- a couple of weeks. nature it’s doomed from that only the very poor- stamp duty vice for young people, In the meantime we shattered will be out on the streets the start. est will get any benefit aiming to recruit a million of London this Saturday, Imperialist hopes that That’s not to say it has and if they start to climb He has raised the volunteers. This is not along with many thou- the rigged election would no use for imperialism. out of poverty they will threshold for payment of much money for such a sands of other protesters give some legitimacy to Kurdish feudal chieftain lose those benefits. stamp duty on house buy- large project. against the illegal inva- Gordon’s sweeten- ing from £60,000 to Brown has yet again sion of Iraq. their puppet regime have Jalal Talabani, widely ers for pensioners include £120,000. This will help failed to impose the taxes We will be calling been shattered by the ris- tipped to eventually get the a £200 council tax rebate first-time buyers a little but on the rich that are nec- for the withdrawal of ing tempo of resistance at- “presidency”, is already – bowing to pressure from could encourage house essary to solve the pen- British troops from Iraq tacks in recent weeks. mobilising his followers campaigners. There will prices to rise yet further. sion gaps. He has failed along with all the rest. Though the most spec- amongst the Kurdish mi- also be a 13 per cent rise House prices are already to significantly increase But we will still be cam- in pension credits, bring- way above the level that spending on education, paigning for the with- tacular suicide bombings nority in Syria to stage drawal of British troops cannot be ignored, the sys- mass demonstrations ing the minimum income most young workers could health or public transport. hope to meet. from the Balkans, from tematic sabotage of the oil against the Damascus gov- guarantee for a single But he has found an Afghanistan, from Ire- ernment which is next on pensioner to £119 a week He has deferred a rise extra £400 million for de- land and many other industry is seldom reported and this figure will be in duty on petrol. What he fence this year. However in the West. Bush’s hit-list. places where British im- linked to average wages. should be doing is impos- unpopular, the war in Iraq perialism is making lo- When the occupation Meanwhile another But the basic pen- ing a huge windfall tax on still has to be paid for. cal lives a misery. began Anglo-American leading Baathist, Tariq sion itself will not. Brown the oil companies who have He appears to have Please help us to imperialism openly talked Aziz, has smuggled out an is still ignoring the main profited so much from the dished out a lot of sweet- continue this work by about doubling the appeal asking the interna- demand of the pension- steep rises in oil prices. eners, but looked at sending whatever you country’s oil production to tional community to ensure ers’ movement. The poor- Brown is to increase closely they mostly turn can to the New Worker est pensioners will ben- child tax credits by £5 a out to be saccharine. Fund, PO Box 73, London make the Iraqi people pay he gets a fair trial. The SW11 2PQ. for their own occupation. former Iraqi foreign min- Page 2 THE NEW WORKER 18 March 2005 email: [email protected] News Desk 020 7223 4050

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Straw OKs torture 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123Say no more budget – began an inves- Foreign Secretary Jack tigation because he was Straw last week claimed der unknown conditions and not lead to a massive wave of referring too many patients that, although torture was with no access to the Interna- immigration into Britain by to see hospital consult- Weekly paper of the New Communist Party “completely unaccept- tional Committee of the Red people wanting to sponge off ants. able”, the Government can- Cross. our meagre benefits system – The inquest heard that not ignore “evidence” ob- as papers like the Daily Mail Dr Farley found the inves- tained that way. Lesson in violence predicted. tigation “extremely stress- He said Britain faces a But there has been a ful”, causing him to take “moral hazard” over using A fundamentalist Chris- steady flow of skilled artisans time off work and see a psy- Bring the US intelligence gained from tian school near Chicago re- from Poland to fill great gaps chiatrist. prisoners who have been cently told a parent that her in the supply of skilled plumb- His widow, Marion abused. Answering claims six-year-old son would be ex- ers, electricians, mechanics Farley, said he was popu- that British MI6 intelligence pelled unless she hit him for and so on. lar because he took more troops home! officers were involved in misbehaviour. The boy, Chan- One of them admitted: time with patients and was some of the interrogations, dler Fallaw, had been sent “Under communism there more likely to refer them. Millions of people are taking to the streets Straw claimed they had not home with disciplinary notes were really excellent colleges “Patients would wait to been properly trained in for showing off, offering a to train men and women in see him,” she said. in Britain and across the world this week- their obligations under the teacher chewing gum, not fin- manual professions. So you end to protest against Anglo-American Geneva Convention. ishing his work and bringing have very good, well-pre- Cash barrier imperialism’s brutal occupation of Iraq. He was speaking to toys into the class. pared craftsmen.” Two years after the invasion and Iraq is in MPs on the Prime When his mother, Police in Louisiana Minister’s special Intelli- Michelle Fallaw-Gabrielson, Money worries found part of the $700,000 ruins. Millions of Iraqis are unemployed. The gence and Security Com- arrived to pick him up, the as- loot stolen from a casino health service, once the best in the Arab world, mittee. sistant administrator told her: A popular family doctor in Greensburg woven into has collapsed. Thousands of Iraqis are now refu- The ISC was told that “Either he gets a spanking was driven to suicide after the sticks and brush of a gees in their own land; living in hovels after their Britain’s anti-terrorist before he leaves today, or I’m coming under pressure to cut beavers’ dam. They were forces had prevented at- suspending him.” the number of patients he re- tipped off that the money, homes were destroyed in collective punishment tacks by using intelligence ferred to hospital, an inquest stashed in bags, had been raids by the occupation army and their local lack- gained from so-called Communist heritage was told last week. thrown into a creek near eys. And over 100,000 Iraqi civilians – half of “ghost prisoners” held by Dr Stephen Farley Baton Rouge. The beavers whom were women and children – are believed the US in breach of the The full entry of eastern hanged himself after his local had incorporated the Geneva Conventions at European states into the Eu- Primary Care Trust – which notes into their dam with- to have lost their lives since March 2003, ac- ropean Union last May did was running £2 million over out tearing them. cording to a study published by the British medi- undisclosed locations, un- cal journal, the Lancet. The founding charter of the United Nations clearly affirms the right of an occupied people to resist by force of arms. The Iraqi people are Public sector votes for pension strike fighting for freedom. They have an unconditional and absolute right to resist the Anglo-American by Caroline Colebrook occupation by whatever means possible. THE BIGGEST strike in Iraqi partisans are waging a ferocious struggle Britain since 1926 could be to drive the invaders out of their country. Nearly coming soon after more than 1,700 imperialist troops have been killed and 1.5 million public sector over 11,000 wounded in the war against the workers – including local Iraqi resistance that controls large parts of the government workers, civil servants, health workers, country. Most of the casualties are American education workers and many but 86 British servicemen have died and a fur- more – voted in favour of mass ther 800 have been wounded doing Bush’s dirty strike action to defend their work in Iraq. pensions. The Italian government is the latest to throw The results of the ballots in the towel. Their 3,000-strong contingent will were announced last Thurs- begin withdrawing from Iraq in September. day, overwhelmingly in favour Now all that’s left of Bush’s “coalition of the of the proposed programme of 24-hour walkouts beginning willing” are token forces from a handful of cli- on 23 March. ent states and the British expeditionary force The Unions involved in- that will probably be expanded to fill the gap clude Unison, Amicus, the the Italians have left. building union Ucatt, the Transport and General Work- The Blair government thinks it can ignore the ers’ Union, the GMB and the millions in the peace movement. Blair and his PCS civil service union. The “Let’s hope the employ- tion these key workers make to solve the pension black cronies think they can dismiss the growing calls National Union of Teachers is ers see sense and abandon to the running of our public hole. within the Labour Party and the trade union yet to conduct its ballot. these changes so that real services.” Work and Pensions Sec- The Government has pro- negotiations can take place,” retary Alan Johnson said that movement for an end to this senseless war. posed to increase the retire- he said. Meanwhile the Govern- sixty-somethings needed to The anti-war movement must mobilise again ment age and raise the mini- PCE general secretary ment is trying to persuade recognise that they are “not and again until these demands are met. All Brit- mum age at which a pension Mark Serwotka said the “over- people over 50 who have in their dotage” and “still ca- ish troops must be immediately and uncondi- can be paid. This change af- whelming” ballot result taken early retirement to come pable of doing high-powered tionally withdrawn from Iraq. fects all public sector work- showed it is time for the Gov- back into the workforce to try jobs”. ers, but has been rushed ernment to sit up and take Blair and his cohorts are not fit to lead the through for local government notice. Labour Party. They must be defeated and re- workers where it will take ef- “Tens of thousands of placed with leaders ready to head the demands fect from 1st April 2005. hard working civil and public Protests at Fini visit of the labour and peace movement. Members of all the unions servants won’t sit idly by and involved are angry about let their pension rights be ANTI-FASCISTS in London counts the Fini meeting with Tony Blair told the Labour Party and the plans to make local govern- eroded,” he said. staged a protest last Tuesday the Queen as a valuable gain people that the war was about Saddam ment workers “work longer for TGWU general secretary against the state visit of Ital- in their campaign to win inter- Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. less”. Tony Woodley called on the ian foreign minister national respectability. The Saddam government sent an immense re- Members working in Government to increase taxes Gianfranco Fini – leader of The Alliance is a part of councils across the country on the banks and oil compa- the extreme right wing Na- Silvio Berlusconi’s right wing port to the United Nations detailing how Iraq fear that not only will their re- nies – who have made record tional Alliance. coalition government. It was had complied with the disarmament regime im- tirement age be affected, but profits this year, to fund pen- The party claims to have founded after the Second posed on them after the Gulf war ended in 1991. that these changes will be the sion schemes. abandoned its fascist heri- World War to perpetuate the This was dismissed as lies by Bush and Blair. first in a line of reductions to “A one-off tax based on tage but earlier in the week fascist ideology of Benito pension benefits. the windfall of higher oil members had offered their Mussolini. Now we know Saddam was telling the truth. Unison general secretary prices would be justified and support to footballer Paolo Di Weyman Bennett, the We were told that the invasion was in the Dave Prentis – recently re- popular. A windfall tax on Canio for giving a fascist sa- joint secretary of United name of the UN Security Council even though elected in his post – said the overcharging banks would be lute. Against Fascism, said: the Security Council had refused to endorse it. members were not prepared to a vote winner.” The Italian football au- “Gianfranco Fini is not wel- Now even the UN Secretary-General, Kofi accept changes to their pen- Amicus national officer thority imposed a £7,000 fine come. He is a fascist and a sions by diktat. He said the Gail Cartmail said: “Progress of Di Canio’s club, Lazio but bigot with a long history of Annan, concedes that the war was illegal. average local government is being made but passions are two national Alliance MPs association with fascist We were told that the Attorney-General had pension amounts to just running high. If the strike on have set up a collection to pay organisations. advised that the attack on Iraq complied with £3,800 a year. 23 March goes ahead, public the fine. international law but the Government refuses to “Unison wants real nego- sector workers will make it a Fini’s wife Daniella has “We think it a disgrace tiations for the first time on a big day. supported the collection, say- that the monarch should publish Lord Goldsmith’s full legal opinion. sustainable good quality pen- “We hope that in the coming it would be “an act of soli- shake the hand of someone How much longer are we going to put up sion scheme which benefits all ing week the Government will darity”. She met the Queen at who previously supported the with Tony Blair’s lies and broken promises? local government workers and meet our demands and main- Buckingham Palace last Tues- politics of Mussolini. We which councils and staff can tain a public sector pension day. would expect higher stan- afford. that recognises the contribu- The National Alliance dards.” 18 March 2005 THE NEW WORKER Page 3 Home News Newsdesk 020 7223 4050 NUT Unison secures Firefighters opposes still academies NHS equal pay deal resisting THE PUBLIC sector union sands of other women receiv- could claim £200,000 each. Health Minister John THE NATIONAL Union of Unison last Monday reached ing similar awards. Unison Unison general secretary Hutton is trying to minimise Teachers last week declared an agreement with the North has written to 450,000 mem- Dave Prentis said: “We have the impact of the Cumbria cuts was on plans announced by Cumbria Acute Hospitals bers working in the NHS, in- always argued that there has agreement by claiming that it Prime Minister Tony Blair to NHS Trust to pay 1,500 forming them that they now been historic pay discrimina- is a purely local issue. establish a network of 200 women employees between have a right to back pay if they tion in the health service Healthcare assistant FIREFIGHTERS in the Lon- privately sponsored acad- £35,000 and £200,000 each can prove they have been against women. It’s dreadful Christine Wharrier, who is don Borough of Camden last emies to replace secondary in compensation for unequal paid less than men in compa- though that it has taken so also a Unison convenor, said week suffered a setback in schools that have been judged pay. rable jobs. long to get justice for these the deal was “a great victory”. their efforts to secure the lo- to be failing. This follows a ruling by hard-working women who are “Discrimination runs deep in cal council’s support in their NUT general secretary an industrial tribunal last biggest the backbone of the NHS.” the NHS, especially for part- campaign against planned Steve Sinnott said the acad- month and is the conclusion timers, who are mainly women cuts to the service. emies were “immoral” and of an eight-year struggle to Among the biggest ben- Agenda workers,” she said. Officers, who face losing turned their backs on less aca- win equal pay for women eficiaries are C-grade nurses, Linda Weightman, em- one of their engines, last week demic children. workers, including cleaners, at the lower end of the pay The NHS and the unions ployed by a Cumbria infirmary addressed a full meeting of The NUT is planning a nurses, telephonists and su- scale. They have been paid last year reached a deal known for 17 years, said: “It will mean the council asking for help. nationwide campaign against pervisors. £17,060 a year but the union as Agenda for Change, which a lot to members who have But the Labour council the plan with campaign Some of the women will successfully argued that the was supposed to resolve had to retire through ill health, ignored them and voted to groups in every area where an be getting 14 years of back work they do is comparable equal pay issues. But the who worked themselves to a support a controversial academy is planned to per- pay. to that of medical technical Cumbria claim deals with un- frazzle for the NHS and have reorganisation drawn up by suade teachers and parents to It has huge implications officers, who are paid £26,939 equal pay endured for many bad backs or other problems. the London Fire Brigade. stop it happening. throughout the NHS and a year. If interest is added to years before the agreement It will be a real boost to their Under these proposals, The Government’s acad- could lead to tens of thou- the back pay, some women was reached. pensions.” fire engines will be redistrib- emy plan calls for private uted to outer London bor- sponsors to put up £2 million oughs to improve response towards the cost of the acad- times there. emy – which amounts to around one eighth of the av- The wanton cruelty of Franco fascism disastrous erage cost – and the taxpay- NHS ers pay the rest. The firefighters, based at The sponsor then has failing Euston, say the changes control over the school cur- could be disastrous. Speaking riculum, even though they for the local Fire Brigades may not have any educational stroke Union, Greg Edwards said: expertise at all. This has “We are asking Camden and caused great concern in the victims Barnet to oppose the pro- north east where one spon- posed cut to one of the fire sor of three academies – a car AROUND 5,000 victims of engines. At present you get dealer – is a Christian funda- three fire engines arriving in mentalist who favours the strokes in England and Wales are dying too early every year eight minutes. Two of those teaching of creation theory come from Euston in five min- rather than the science of because they do not get the specialist care they need utes. evolution. “What you will get under The sponsor also gains quickly enough, according to the Stroke Association. the new plan is two fire en- ownership of the land the gines and only one will get academy is built on, making The comments follow an official audit by the Royal there in five minutes. That the sale of playing fields and means five firefighters will so on a lucrative prospect. College of Physicians, funded by the NHS that examined have to deal with incidents A report commission by until the other engine arrives. the Government from progress at 246 sites in 203 NHS hospitals. “Our main argument is the PriceWaterhouseCoopers has time factor. You want the fire warned the Government that The Stroke Association described a “scandalous” engines you have now turn- academies could create a two- ing up as quickly as possible. tier education system. lack of priority given to the third biggest cause of deaths The cuts speak for them- “There are some children selves.” who are wanted by them,” after heart disease and can- • Jack Jones looks on as the cake is cut. cer. But in spite of consider- said Steve Sinnott, “and other publican prisoners. Many able support from the public children who are unwanted. The audit revealed big by Rob Laurie ments in Spain. discrepancies between hospi- were shot out of hand for the In the latter stages of the gallery, the firefighters failed That seems to us to be im- EACH YEAR the International crime of not joining in Franco regime the relevant to persuade the council. moral.” tals and primary care services. It found that more than half Brigade Memorial Trust Franco’s military archives were systematically The union warned that organises an annual lecture revolt. Garrotting was a destroyed. It is only recently academies would be under no of all suspected stroke patients had to wait more than named after Len Crome, favourite method of execution that work has been done to obligation to accept children a Latvian born doctor who throughout the Francoestablish the reality of the with special needs. 48 hours for brain scans and a third of those who might saw distinguished service years. Big business ben- Franco regime. Refugee benefit from the blood-thin- with the International Bri- efited form the slave labour Archaeological work is ning properties of aspirin also gade who fought to against of tens of thousands of pris- being carried out at 26 mass did not get it for 48 hours. the fascists in the Spanish oners. graves to discover the pre- skills It said that too many hos- Civil War. It was not only active op- cise fate of Franco’s victims, Maternity pitals still did not regard a This year the lecture was ponents of Franco who felt his thought to number 130,000 wasted stroke as a medical emer- on “The Crimes of wrath; other family members in the immediate post war leave cuts gency. And it expressed con- Franco” given by Paul including infant children were years alone. The Socialist cern that not enough atten- Preston, Professor of Inter- executed whenever Franco government elected last year BRITAIN’S economy could national History at the Lon- seized control. Such punish- is slowly increasing support benefit from the skills of infant tion is given to the ability of ments were imposed even in stroke patients to swallow. don School of for this work. thousands of refugees and Economics and author of areas where opposition to After the lecture a new asylum seekers, many of Swallowing problems af- Franco was weak. death rate fect about a third of stroke many important works about edition of The Connolly whom are trained doctors, patients and increase the risk the Spanish Civil War and its Column by IB veteran engineers, scientists and EXTENDED paid maternity of choking, which can lead to aftermath. appalled Michael O’ Riordan was other professionals, accord- leave for new mothers leads After paying tribute to Len launched. First published in ing to the Council for Assist- chest infections and pneumo- Crome, Preston began his 1979 it has just been to a significant reduction in nia. Even Count Ciano, ing Refugee Academics. lecture by contrasting the lav- Mussolini’s Foreign Minister reprinted by the Welsh pub- But Government restric- the number of babies dying in Around 130,000 people in ish memorials erected in was appalled at Franco’s lisher Warren and Pell. The their first year according to England and Wales suffer tions prevent them finding Spain for General Franco and brutal treatment of Republi- reprint has been edited by certain kinds of work or ap- the results of an international strokes every year. Around a the fascist war dead with the can prisoners in his efforts to his son Manus O’Riordan study, which published its third die within 10 days, an- plying for education courses way that Republican soldiers rescue Catholic Spain who has the added much while they have refugee sta- findings last week. other third are left disabled killed on the battlefield were from liberalism, Marxism and new material and refuted at- The researchers com- while a third recover. dumped in mass graves. Freemasonry. tempts by recent historians tus. pared the maternity leave poli- For those who survive, Preston argued that Franco’s apologists then to slander the Irish Brigaders. cies of 18 industrialised coun- prompt referral to specialist Franco could have easily won and now often cite the shoot- Of special interest to working tries between 1969 and 2000 physiotherapy can make an the war much earlier had he ing of Catholic priests as ex- readers of The New Worker and the effects of those poli- enormous difference to their concentrated on pressing amples of a widespread is an obituary of Maurice The council claims that cies on child health outcomes. prospects of a complete re- home the enormous military “Red Terror”. Preston made Levitas, one of the Irish vol- the skills and experience of It revealed that every 10 covery. advantage offered by man- clear that while such events unteers and New Commu- 5,000 foreign academics could weeks of extra maternity leave Most hospitals now have power and hardware sup- did take place, they were not nist Party member. be worth more than £100 mil- reduced infant mortality by 2.6 specialist stroke units but plied by Hitler and Mussolini official government policy. To round off the day’s lion to the economy if they per cent. they are often not big enough but he frequently delayed his The Republican govern- proceeding’s Sam Russell, were working, supporting The current infant mortal- to cope with demand, leaving advances in order to devote ment tried to discourage an International Brigade vet- themselves and paying taxes. ity rate in England and Wales stroke patients desperately in time and energy to massa- them, but workers and peas- eran and later a Daily Worker Many of them have skills was 5.2 for every 1,000 live need of specialist care lan- cring real and imaginary op- ants frequently had their own journalist, cut a cake that are in very short supply births in 2002, according to guishing in general wards, ponents. way of dealing with greedy to celebrate histh in Britain90 but are forced to live the Office for National Statis- and waiting up to three weeks There was no Geneva clerics who allied themselves birthday which takes place on benefits or take low-paid tics. for a bed in the specialist unit. Convention for captured Re- with most reactionary ele- next week. manual jobs. Page 4 THE NEW WORKER 18 March 2005 Features

Kenya’s Land and Freedom Army Mau Mau against the British Empire

by Stephen Millies Supporters of this movement leaders who liberated Wounded formed the Kikuyu Central As- Knee, these Kenyan veterans put HAS ANY liberation move- sociation (KCA) in the mid- their military skills to good use. ment been more slandered 1920s. Jomo Kenyatta, later to be While stationed in India, Itote than Kenya’s Land and Free- independent Kenya’s first prime learned from an African Ameri- dom Army, usually referred to minister and president, became can GI about how Haitians had as the Mau Mau? This term editor of the KCA’s monthly risen in a slave insurrection and is still used by racists as a club newspaper, Muigwathania, in defeated Napoleon’s armies. He to attack Black people. 1928. could see for himself that Britain Right-wing columnist Ann Schools became a battle- was forced to depart India and Coulter, outraged that Halle ground. “Illiterates with the right Pakistan in 1947. After the war, Berry won an Oscar in 2002, attitude to manual employment the future “General China” complained that this Black artist are preferable to products of the worked as a locomotive fireman had “successfully mau-maued schools,” declared the official in Nairobi’s railroad yards. her way to a Best Actress Beecher Report on Kenyan edu- Kenyatta became president of Award.” cation in 1949. At the time, three the Kenyan African Union on 1 Former Vice President Daniel high schools admitted a total of June 1947. Trade unionists were Quayle’s chief of staff, William 100 African students annually. some of the KAU’s most militant Kristol, said Carol Mosely Braun An independent school move- leaders. “mau-maued” the US Senate ment blossomed in the late 1920s. Fred Kubai organised when, as the only African Ameri- By 1952, some 50,000 students Nairobi’s taxi drivers and be- can woman member in the attended 300 African-controlled came secretary of the Transport Senate’s history, she stopped a schools. The KCA founded the and Allied Workers’ Union. charter renewal for the United Githunguri Teachers’ Training Bildad Kaggia was a leader of Daughters of the Confederacy. College. the Clerks’ and Commercial Thousands of Mau Mau guer- Kenyatta went abroad in 1929 Workers’ Union. The British rillas wrote a heroic chapter in to represent the KCA in London would jail both Kubai and Kaggia the book of liberation with their and didn’t return to Kenya until together with Kenyatta. blood. As with the French in Al- 1946. Pan African leader George Along with Makhan Singh, geria, it was the armed struggle Padmore, then an organiser for Kubai and Kaggia founded the in Kenya that compelled the Brit- the Communist International, in- East African Trade Union Con- ish imperialists to grant indepen- fluenced him. Kenyatta also stud- gress on May Day, 1949. The dence to their African colonies. ied briefly in Moscow. next May Day the EATUC is- At last, two new scholarly “When the missionaries ar- sued a call for independence and books expose the atrocities the rived, the Africans had the land majority rule. colonial regime committed in sup- and the missionaries had the The British imperialist govern- pressing this freedom struggle: Bible. They taught us to pray with ment, administered by the social- Imperial Reckoning by Caroline our eyes closed. When we democratic Labor Party, imme- Elkins and Histories of the opened our eyes, they had the diately arrested these union lead- Hanged by David Anderson. land and we had the Bible,” ob- ers. In response 100,000 Kenyan Queen Victoria’s British Em- served Kenyatta. workers joined a general strike. pire declared a “protectorate” Catholic and Protestant mis- Nairobi was paralysed for over Kenya and Uganda in 1895. sionaries were as indispensable nine days. Only a mobilisation of What was being protected was as Maxim guns to British colo- the army and police broke this the theft of the best farmland by nialism. An Anglican bishop strike. a few British settlers. Among wrote the racist Beecher Report. EATUC president Fred Kubai them was Lord Delamere, who However, Kenya’s freedom was jailed for eight months. Gen- stole 160,000 acres. fighters included Christians. Mus- eral Secretary Makhan Singh Machine guns and bayonets lims also joined the liberation was detained without trial for 11 forced African people into “na- struggle. But the official churches years. tive reserves” modelled on Indian lined up British-appointed Their jailing symbolised the reservations in the United States. “chiefs” and their followers to be unity of Kenyan workers of Asian They weren’t allowed to grow informers against the Mau Mau. and African origin against colo- coffee or other commercial nialism. crops. As in South Africa under Army smashes apartheid, Africans were forced Workers World (US) to carry passes. general strike Kenya’s Kikuyu people, who • Above: a police agent fingers someone as Mau Mau. Below: Mau Mau suspects behind wire. farmed some of the most fertile Many Kikuyu people became land in the country’s central sec- sharecroppers or labourers on tion, were particularly affected. white farms, often on the same “We have stolen his land,” soil that had been stolen from their confessed Colonel Ewart families. Others were forced off Grogan, a white settler. “Now it the land altogether. is time to steal his limbs.” The population of the capital Compulsory labour was re- city, Nairobi, doubled between quired of African women and 1938 and 1948. men. As early as 1930 police shot Building a 582-mile railroad down strikers at the Uplands from the Indian Ocean port of Bacon factory and jailed their Mombasa to Lake Victoria was leaders. A Kenyan working class key to the exploitation. Some was being formed. By 1948 there 30,000 workers from British-oc- were 385,000 African wage cupied India were used. Some workers; their average annual 10,000 died or were maimed in income was $73. the process. British imperialism press- Occupation sparked resis- ganged 75,000 Kenyans to fight tance. On 14 March 1922, police in World War II. Among them gunfire crushed a rally of 8,000 was Waruhiu Itote, who was to Africans in Nairobi, called to pro- become known as the Mau test the exiling of Kikuyu leader Mau’s “General China.” Harry Thuku. Like Vietnam veteran White settlers standing on the Geronimo ji Jaga, who defended Norfolk Hotel’s porch joined in the Los Angeles Black Panther the shooting. Fifty-eight Africans Party office against police attack, were murdered. or American Indian Movement 18 March 2005 THE NEW WORKER Page 5 Features 020 7223 4052 It’s a crazy old world

by Rob Gowland rooted in their own good- hitched, the monarchy subservient media want no matter how much that The Guardian hearted concept of how should — and sooner or attractive royals and other particular Royal falls into Australian communist weekly people deserve happiness. later will — go. “beautiful people” to distract public disfavour (and it is However, the capitalist As will other medieval the masses, why do they never very far), there are media make damn sure that hangovers (however recently publicise their less attractive others who can be brought IT’S A CRAZY WORLD all ordinary people comprehend they have been created) like antics with such relish? into play quickly enough. right. Or have I said that that the lifestyle of Fred and the Danish, Swedish, Bel- Because of a contradic- The media have always before? I must have, I’m Mary is not for them. No, it’s gian, Spanish and Saudi tion: although the capitalist covered up the more sure. for the well-to-do, the “beau- royal regimes. media want to use an image unattractive Royal pas- Did you see where two tiful people”, the ruling class. Then, the Royals will be just of a sun-tanned smiling times (what they have sisters, both in their late The hoi polloi can expect like us. Hopefully, Betty and youthful ruling class to keep concealed about Prince 60s, flew from Perth to to enjoy that lifestyle only Maureen and others like people vicariously thrilled Phillip would make a best- Sydney last week just to vicariously, by keeping a them, will then find more and charmed, they also want seller). They balance what catch a glimpse of Prince scrapbook like Betty worthwhile people to admire. to sell papers and TV time. they need to disclose — to Fredrick of Denmark and Bromfield or by watching You may ask, if the They know that whatever sell papers to the gullible his Australian wife, Mary. shows like the voyeuristic capitalist class and its they say about some Royal, audience they themselves The future king and queen Lifestyles of the Rich and have created — with what of the smallest country in Famous. they need to conceal to Scandinavia were indulging Or just occasionally, by keep that audience from themselves (what else — marrying someone rich and turning on them in disgust. they’re royals, aren’t they) famous — the special As I write this, Mary and in a spot of yachting on appeal and usefulness of the Fred have only been here Sydney Harbour. “Princess Mary” story. a couple of days; Charles Mary raced Fred. Mary The capitalist media need is also here and Princess won. This, believe it or not, people like Mary and Fred to Victoria, heir to the throne was front-page news. keep that vicarious lifestyle of Sweden, arrives next It took up more of the fresh and vibrant. They need week. We are knee deep Sydney Morning Herald’s Royals who are young and in Royals, you might say. front page than Israel’s relatively attractive, smiling The Sydney Morning threat to attack Syria. and enjoying life. They do not Herald’s story about Mary One of the sisters want Royals who raise and Fred’s yacht race was mentioned above, Betty difficult questions or criticise very cutely headed “Now Bromfield, 68, is apparently the system. Diana was she’s crowned Mary so smitten with “Princess everyone’s favourite prin- Queen of Yachts”. Mary” that she has already cess until she began to take filled three scrapbooks with up issues like land mines Perhaps ironically, or clippings about her. and refugees. perhaps ominously, it’s a An obliging capitalist Then, while the people play on the title of the media provide plenty of continued to like her, the cousin of Elizabeth I, Mary photos to stick in the bourgeois media became Queen of Scots. The latter, scrapbook of course, but very hostile. of course, had her head what a tribute to the power For landmines and chopped off. of the media to distort refugees raise questions people’s perceptions of about war and conquest, what is good and worth about empire and profit. And while. that sort of thing makes Mary and Fred have people think about the done nothing to make them system. noteworthy really. They Ironically, Prince Charles have not discovered a cure seems to have also shot his for cancer or mapped a bolt with the capitalist media. hitherto unexplored cave. His trenchant criticism of Nor have they freed the property developers for Danish people from exploi- destroying the urban envi- tation, or even made ronment, for example, has statements suggesting that apparently not endeared him the subject has ever to the moneyed classes. crossed their minds. The capitalist media No, they are just two certainly regard him as fair young rich kids (yes, I know game, his comments fit only she wasn’t, but she is now) to be lampooned. enjoying the good life that Now we have the unusual wealth and privilege brings. spectacle of the future King And yet Betty Bromfield of England (but not, appar- says, “I adore them”. ently, the Queen) — and Betty and her sister hence, the future head of the Maureen have never met Church of England — the Danish “Royals”. All preparing to get married in a they know about Fred and civil service. Mary has come from press Some monarchists have releases and public rela- even questioned whether it tions “spin” dutifully re- will actually be legal. They ported as fact by a manipu- must have been disap- lative mass media. pointed when the Palace People like Betty and said emphatically that it • Top: It was OK for George V to play with his big guns, but it was not Maureen are the particular would. acceptable for Princess Diana to consider the results for ordinary targets of that mass media Whether it’s legal doesn’t people: above. manipulation. Their view of make it legitimate, of course, the world may be romantic and regardless of how and unreal, but it is deeply Charles and Camilla get Page 6 THE NEW WORKER 18 March 2005 Home News

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CHILDREN’S minister A letter from Hodge’s Margaret Hodge last department to the Wood- week announced a deci- craft Folk spoke of the lack sion to cut funding to of “sufficiently robust out- the Woodcraft Folk, come indicators” and that claiming that she and her it “did not represent “good officials had decided the value for money”. Those children’s organisation who know the organisation had not provided evi- are appalled at this descrip- dence that it was doing tion. enough for the “disad- Deputy general secre- vantaged”. tary Chris Pyke said: “To The Woodcraft Folk hear that from a Labour was founded 80 years ago government, after surviving by progressive people in- the Thatcher years, is per- cluding Labour Party sup- plexing, to say the least. We porters, Co-operators, are still seeking a meeting peace campaigners, envi- with officials to find out ronmentalists, communists why we were thought to be and others. deficient. We are disap- pointed and furious.” alternative He added: “We provide an experience of the out- It aimed to provide an side world and the country- alternative to scouts and side for children who often guides that did not involve do not know where their swearing allegiance to the milk comes from.” Queen or to God. He said that the Over the decades it Government’s new agenda has provided holidays in the for children, focussing on countryside and trips “inclusiveness” was trailing abroad for thousands of many decades behind the • Many have fond memories. working class children, Woodcraft Folk. many of whom could af- Labour MP for support of 52 MPs for an Woodcraft Folk supporters ford no other holidays. Islington North Jeremy early day motion calling for are calling for a broader It has always opposed Corbyn – who is an active a reversal of Hodge’s de- campaign to defend the racism and pioneered ac- helper at Woodcraft Folk cision. organisation. Watch this tivities where boys and girls camps – says he has the But some longstanding space. from all backgrounds were equal. It has taught them to love and respect nature, to care for each other and the planet. During the miners’ Army recruits strike, the Woodcraft Folk provided free holidays for miners’ children, away ‘treated like animals’ from the strife and stress that engulfed their commu- nities. THE COMMONS Defence recruits, which led to the treatment meted out to sol- It stated aim is to “cre- Select Committee report death of four young re- diers and to their families. ate a world built on equal- last week accused the cruits at the Deepcut bar- In one case a young ity, friendship, peace and army of serious failings racks in Sussex between woman soldier who had co-operation”. in its duty of care to new 1995 and 2002. been sexually assaulted by The Woodcraft Folk do They said that soldiers a superior officer was receive some funding from were “treated like animals” warned that if she pushed the political committee of and that an independent her complaint she could the Co-operative Society commission should be set herself be disciplined for but to lose Government up to investigate any com- going to his quarters. funding would be a severe plaints by members of the In another incident at blow. armed forces against their the Catterick training camp The organisation cur- superior officers. in Yorkshire, a young recruit rently has 9,000 children The committee’s inves- was literally worked to death enrolled and only five paid tigations revealed that army by an officer who then pre- staff. Traditionally the officers were personally in- vented him being taken to Woodcraft Folk have involved in the bullying and a hospital until he had been volved parents in all activi- culture within the army that changed into a clean uni- ties. ignored its official policy of form. zero tolerance of bullying. The report said that the The report said: “We decision to send Leslie find it difficult to discount Skinner, a physical trainer the evidence that members with convictions for indecent of the chain of command assault of young soldiers to are responsible for some Deepcut, where he commit- bullying.” ted further offences, showed The MPs said they were “a disturbing level of indiffer- Weekly paper of the New Communist Party “appalled” by some of the ence or incompetence”. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 6 weeks: £4; 3 months: £8; 6 months: £15; annual: £30 On the Web Name...... Address...... New Worker National – ...... www.newworker.org Post code...... NCP Central – Phone...... www.geocities.com/ncpcentral Send cheque/P.O.’s to: NCP-PCS – www.geocities.ncppcs/pcs1.html NW Subs, PO Box 73, London SW11 2PQ 18 March 2005 THE NEW WORKER Page 7 020 7223 4052 Paying tribute to the life of Karl Marx MEMBERS and friends of the COMMUNISTS from Britain New Communist Party gath- and overseas, and members of ered last Saturday evening the Marx Memorial Library, for their own celebration of laid flowers at the tomb of Karl the life and works of Karl Marx at Highgate Cemetery Marx at a reception at the last Monday to mark the Party Centre in London. 122nd anniversary of the They were joined by Ha death of the great revolution- Sin Guk from the Embassy of ary and thinker. the Democratic People’s Re- Mary Rosser, the chair of public of Korea, Jorge Trujillo the Marx Memorial Library from the Cuban Embassy and began the ceremony exactly Explo Nani Kofi of the Afri- at 2.30 pm, the time of Marx’s can Liberation Support Cam- death, and the graveside ad- paign (ALISC). dress was given by Len Aldis NCP chairperson Alex on behalf of the Library. Kempshall introduced these Len said that Marx’s life guest speakers, along with had “enriched the lives of mil- NCP general secretary Andy lions throughout the world. Brooks; pointing out that be- One of the most powerful pub- tween them they represent lications he and his colleague four different continents. Frederick Engels left us was Explo Nani Kofi told the the Communist Manifesto. gathering of how the works This small publication has of Marx were an inspiration to been translated into many lan- the whole world that had guages, and in my opinion, guided the struggles of the when read, opens up the mind people of Africa to shake off of the reader to what could be the burdens of imperialist ex- the future for working ploitation – a struggle that people”. continues today. Delegations included one Jorge Trujillo spoke of led by NCP leader Andy Cuba’s long struggle against Brooks, the Democratic Ko- the efforts of the United rean ambassador in London States to strangle Cuba’s so- and diplomats from People’s cialism. China, Cuba and Vietnam. Ha Sin Guk also spoke of Marx died in London at his country’s battle against 2.30 pm on 14 March 1883 and American imperialism. He also the Marx Memorial Library spoke of the inspiration the has organised a graveside works of Karl Marx had pro- commemoration at the exact vided to Kim Il Sung who led time and date since 1933. the Korean people in freeing themselves from Japanese • Chatting at the social: top: Andy Brooks and Alex occupation, from capitalist Kempshall. oppression and then fought the invading Americans to a ain and paid tribute to the mili- Americans can be defeated,” standstill. tary successes of both the he said, adding that this Kim Il Sung then went on Cuban and the Korean people would certainly be repeated in to develop the guiding prin- against US efforts to invade Iraq. • Top: Len Aldis gives ciples of Juché, the socialist and subdue them and the in- his address at the tomb philosophy of self reliance. spiration they have given to A collection taken at the of Karl Marx. Andy Brooks recalled other countries around the event raised £562.94 for the Left: The DPRK Marx and Engels’ days in Brit- world. “They have proved the New Worker fighting fund. ambassador and family.

The Historical Destiny of the Doctrine of Karl Marx

in the main akin to our opment of bourgeois their trade unions and their of great world storms opened bourgeoisie of all kinds. After by Lenin Narodism: in comprehen- changes; the republic, i.e., co-operative societies. up in Asia. The Russian revo- the experience both of Eu- 1st March 1913 sion of the materialist basis the form of political Marx’s doctrine gained a lution was followed by revo- rope and Asia, anyone who of historical movement, in- organisation in which class complete victory and began lutions in Turkey, Persia and speaks of non-class politics ability to single out the role relations appear in their to spread. The selection and China. It is in this era of and non-class socialism, THE CHIEF THING in the and significance of each most unconcealed form, mustering of the forces of the storms and their “repercus- ought simply to be put in a doctrine of Marx is that it class in capitalist society, owed its consolidation solely proletariat and its preparation sions” in Europe that we are cage and exhibited alongside brings out the historic concealment of the bour- to the heroism of the prole- for the coming battles made now living. No matter what the Australian kangaroo or role of the proletariat as geois nature of democratic tariat. slow but steady progress. the fate of the great Chinese something like that. the builder of socialist reforms under diverse, In all the other European The dialectics of history republic, against which vari- After Asia, Europe has society. Has the course of quasi-socialist phrases countries, a more tangled were such that the theoreti- ous “civilised” hyenas are also begun to stir, although about the “people”, “justice”, events all over the world and less complete develop- cal victory of Marxism com- now whetting their teeth, no not in the Asiatic way. The “right”, and so on. ment led to the same result— pelled its enemies to dis- power on earth can restore “peaceful” period of 1872– confirmed this doctrine The revolution of 1848 a bourgeois society that had guise themselves as Marx- the old serfdom in Asia or 1904 has passed, never to since it was expounded struck a deadly blow at all taken definite shape. To- ists. Liberalism, rotten within, wipe out the heroic democ- return. The high cost of living by Marx? these vociferous, motley and wards the end of the first pe- tried to revive itself in the form racy of the masses in the Asi- and the tyranny of the trusts Marx first advanced it in ostentatious forms of pre- riod (1848–71), a period of of socialist opportunism. atic and semi-Asiatic coun- are leading to an unprec- 1844. The Communist Mani- Marxian socialism. In all storms and revolutions, pre- They interpreted the period of tries. edented sharpening of the festo of Marx and Engels, countries, the revolution re- Marxian socialism was dead. preparing the forces for great Certain people who were economic struggle, which published in 1848, gave an vealed the various classes of Independent proletarian par- battles as renunciation of inattentive to the conditions has set into movement even integral and systematic expo- society in action. The shoot- ties came into being: the First these battles. Improvement for preparing and developing the British workers who have sition of this doctrine, an ex- ing of the workers by the re- International (1864–72) and of the conditions of the slaves the mass struggle were been most corrupted by lib- position which has remained publican bourgeoisie in the German Social-Demo- to fight against wage slavery driven to despair and to an- eralism. We, see a political the best to this day. Since Paris in the June days of 1848 cratic Party. they took to mean the sale by archism by the lengthy delays crisis brewing even in the then world history has clearly finally revealed that the pro- the slaves of their right to lib- in the decisive struggle most “diehard”, bourgeois- been divided into three main letariat alone was socialist by erty for a few pence. They cra- against capitalism in Europe. Junker country, Germany. The periods: (1) from the revolu- nature. The liberal bourgeoi- II venly preached “social We can now see how short- frenzied arming and the tion of 1848 to the Paris Com- sie dreaded the indepen- The second period peace” (i.e., peace with the sighted and faint-hearted this policy of imperialism are turn- mune (1871); (2) from the dence of this class a hundred (1872–1904) was distin- slave-owners), renunciation anarchist despair is. ing modern Europe into a “so- Paris Commune to the Rus- times more than it did any guished from the first by its of the class struggle, etc. The fact that Asia, with its cial peace” which is more like sian revolution (1905); (3) kind of reaction. The craven “peaceful” character, by the They had very many adher- population of eight hundred a gunpowder barrel. Mean- since the Russian revolution. liberals grovelled before re- absence of revolutions. The ents among socialist mem- million, has been drawn into while the decay of all the bour- Let us see what has been action. The peasantry were West had finished with bour- bers of parliament, various the struggle for these same geois parties and the matur- the destiny of Marx’s doctrine content with the abolition of geois revolutions. The East officials of the working-class European ideals should in- ing of the proletariat are mak- in each of these periods. the survivals of feudalism had not yet risen to them. movement, and the spire us with optimism and ing steady progress. and joined the supporters of The West entered a “sympathising” intelligentsia. not despair. I order, wavering but occasion- phase of “peaceful” prepara- The Asiatic revolutions Since the appearance of ally between workers’ democ- tions for the changes to have again shown us the Marxism, each of the three At the beginning of the racy and bourgeois liberal- come. Socialist parties, ba- III spinelessness and base- great periods of world history first period Marx’s doctrine by ism. All doctrines of non- sically proletarian, were However, the opportun- ness of liberalism, the excep- has brought Marxism new no means dominated. It was class socialism and non- formed everywhere, and ists had scarcely congratu- tional importance of the in- confirmation and new tri- only one of the very numer- class politics proved to be learned to use bourgeois lated themselves on “social dependence of the demo- umphs. But a still greater tri- ous groups or trends of so- sheer nonsense. parliamentarism and to peace” and on the non-ne- cratic masses, and the pro- umph awaits Marxism, as the cialism. The forms of social- The Paris Commune found their own daily press, cessity of storms under “de- nounced demarcation be- doctrine of the proletariat, in ism that did dominate were (1871) completed this devel- their educational institutions, mocracy” when a new source tween the proletariat and the the coming period of history. Page 8 18 March 2005

International News Web: www.newworker.org Fax 020 7223 4057

SINN FÉIN Chief Negotiator US court Martin McGuinness has chal- lenged the northern Ireland police (PSNI) Chief Con- rejects stable to explain publicly the Sinn Féin challenges handling by his detectives of the investigation into the kill- Agent ing of Belfast man Robert McCartney. police over killing Orange He was speaking in Belfast on Tuesday after it was detective in charge of the case were in the bar on 30 January, pect who they claim to have why a chief suspect was revealed that both a key wit- was not available. and that both identified by been searching for — but this turned away. That’s incred- suit ness and a key suspect in the This would have allowed name some of those said to is what has happened. ible. It’s unprecedented. case were earlier this week immediate arrests and charges be involved in the events that “It is also clear that eye- Never in the history of the turned away and prevented to be brought. occurred inside and outside witness testimony, which Troubles has a chief suspect A US FEDERAL court has dis- been turned away and told to missed legal action by Viet- from making additional state- Also on Monday, the so- the bar. identifies some of those in- ments to the police. licitor of one of the main sus- “We have very grave con- volved in the attack on Rob- come back in three days time.” namese plaintiffs who alleged Meanwhile, refuting re- that Agent Orange caused McGuinness says there is pects in the case contacted cerns around the way Hugh ert McCartney, has been ig- growing evidence that the the PSNI at Antrim Barracks Orde and the PSNI have nored and that a decision has cent Press Association re- birth defects and illnesses. ports that he had “warned” the The judge in the case ruled police are holding back on twice over the course of sev- dragged out the investigation been made not to arrest and charging suspects in an at- eral hours to say his client was into Mr McCartney’s death,” charge those identified by the McCartney family against en- that allegations of physical tering the political arena, damage were not proven and tempt to damage Sinn Féin. available for interview, but the Martin McGuinness told re- eyewitness. Robert McCartney was PSNI did not respond. porters on Tuesday. McGuinness told the attend- rejected their arguments. ing media that the reports Nguyen Trong Nhan, a killed on 30 January after a “Republicans have sus- no parade row in Magennis’s Bar spilled away pected that the PSNI are tai- were a “malicious interpreta- leader of the Vietnamese tion” of his remarks. Agent Orange Association, out into a nearby street. An- loring their investigation to “The normal police prac- other man, Brendan Devine, The second time he was cause maximum damage to tice of quickly putting sus- “I didn’t issue any such said that Judge Jack B warning,” said McGuinness, Weinstein’s decision was was also stabbed. told that the senior investigat- Sinn Féin. The revelation that pects into an identity parade Now it is being reported ing detective was away at a the PSNI turned away a key has not happened, despite the pointedly. “wrong, unfair and irrespon- “Media reports being sible.” He said that his group that Devine, who gave a conference and police did not witness and a key suspect fact that the PSNI know who taped statement to the PSNI have the manpower to deal adds further weight to this was involved and have eye- supplied by the Press Asso- was thinking of filing an ap- ciation Wire service which peal. shortly after the incident in with his client. suspicion. witness evidence about this. which he identified by name a The spokesperson then “In such a high-profile “This underlines the fact were attributed to me are in- Judge Weinstein ruled accurate and misleading. This that there was “no basis for number of those involved, suggested that he should “call murder investigation it beg- that politics rather than jus- went to the police on Mon- back in a couple of days”. gars belief that the PSNI tice is driving the PSNI inves- report attributes words to me any of the claims of plaintiffs that I did not use. under the domestic law of any day 14 March to make a writ- An Phoblacht has also would reject the offer of an tigation, and raises serious ten statement. been told that the PSNI al- eyewitness statement from a questions about the PSNI’s “I at no time warned the nation or state or under any family about entering the po- form of international law” — But the police sent him ready have detailed state- key witness, and the oppor- handling of the case. away, saying that the senior ments from two other men who tunity to interview a key sus- “We need to be asking litical arena. What I was cau- dismissing the case outright. tioning against was them being manipulated by others for compensation ulterior and political purposes and I intend to take this mat- The plaintiffs had sought ter up with the Press Com- compensation from pharma- plaints Commission. ceutical firms including China:Taiwan step is Monsanto, Dow Chemical fully support and Hercules Incorporated, for the effects of Agent Or- “I am fully in support of ange, a toxic defoliant used to a move for peace the McCartney family, and I deprive guerrilla forces of food believe that bringing those and forest cover. They argued by Bao Daozu responsible for their brother’s that the chemical caused birth in Beijing death to justice is their sole defects, miscarriages and can- motivation - but I also believe cer and was the first civil ac- PEOPLE’S CHINA has that they are surrounded by tion by Vietnamese plaintiffs passed a law sanctioning some people who have a very to claim compensation for the different agenda. effects of Agent Orange. “non-peaceful means and other necessary “We have people like An- Attorneys said that a le- thony MacIntyre — who is gal precedent was set in the measures” as a last re- sort to stop Taiwan’s se- against the Peace Process and action when several chemical very hostile to our party — companies paid $180 million cession should all efforts describing himself as ‘an ad- in 1984 to settle a lawsuit with for a peaceful reunifica- visor to the McCartney fam- US war veterans who claimed tion prove futile. ily’. That is the kind of thing I their health had been affected The Anti-Secession Law was cautioning against. by exposure to the substance. was given unanimous back- “My position is quite ing on the last day of the clear. My support for the fuelled annual session of China’s McCartney family in their de- parliament this week. mand for truth and justice is Ngo Thanh Nhan, a pro- It was carried by 2,896 100 per cent.” fessor who participated in a votes to zero, with two ab- The Sinn Féin politician campaign to drum up support also responded to the media for the case, said this fuelled stentions by the third session of the 10th National scapegoating of three party the Vietnamese plaintiffs’ ar- members who were in gument. He said that if the People’s Congress (NPC). Magennis’s on 30 January, medical files of the Vietnam- China’s president, NPC former Sinn Féin Councillor ese victims are not convinc- chairman and the premier Sean Hayes, Assembly elec- ing enough for the court, then all said the bill seeks a tion candidate Cora Groogan they will use the ones of US peaceful reunification with • Delegates applaud the Anti-Secession Law. and a candidate for the up- soldiers — arguing that there Taiwan. Deputies broke coming council elections, is no reason why those who into spontaneous applause “We do not wish to see He then expressed his any foreign forces.” Deirdre Hargan. sprayed chemical products when the law, which came any foreign interference, but concern over the potential The premier said the 10- received compensation for into immediate effect, was we do not fear foreign inter- full and frank their contamination and the involvement of the United article law was not targeted passed. ference should it occur,” he States and Japan over the at Taiwan compatriots and direct victims’ lawsuit was re- McGuinness told the me- jected. NPC Chairman Wu added. Taiwan question. The two he appealled to them as Bangguo said the huge But Wen assured the countries jointly issued a well as the international dia that the call by Gerry Agent Orange, which was Adams for party members to named after the colour of its support for the law reflected world the law is not a “war statement last month de- community to understand the consistent and sincere bill” nor does it seek to give a full and frank account containers, contained dioxin scribing Taiwan as a com- and support the bill. of what they knew of the inci- that stripped trees bare — but stance of the Chinese main- change the cross-Straits mon security issue. dent on 30 January also ap- also entered the food chain land for peaceful reunifica- status quo. “The security alliance not for war plied to those three. and caused a proliferation of tion. between Japan and the But he pointed out that birth defects. Some babies Premier Wen Jiabao framework United States is a bilateral “It is not a law for war both Hargan and Hayes had were born without eyes or strongly warned against any matter between those two but one for the peaceful re- given their names and contact arms, or were missing internal foreign interference on the “The legislation sets a countries. Yet we are con- numbers to the PSNI on the organs. Activists say three unification of the mother- Taiwan question at a news legal framework to prevent cerned in China because it land,” he said. “So long as night and had yet to hear from million people were exposed them, while Groogan had to the chemical during the war, conference after the ses- Taiwan’s secession from is related to the question of there is a glimmer of hope sion. “Solving the Taiwan China and to promote a Taiwan,” Wen said. for peaceful reunification, given a statement to her so- and at least one million suffer licitor and was expecting it to serious health problems to- question is entirely an inter- peaceful national reunifica- He stressed: “That we will exert our utmost to nal Chinese affair and tion,” Wen said. “It will be forwarded to the Police day. question is China’s internal make it happen rather than Ombudsman. brooks no interference by strengthen and promote affair and it brooks no direct give up.” Radio Havana Cuba any outside forces,” he said. cross-Straits relations.” or indirect interference by China Daily AP/RN as a newspaper. 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